The US suicide rate is amongst the highest in the Western world. A new Federal report reveals that, in the last few decades, at least 44 private pilots in America have committed suicide.
Elsewhere, US police have found four bodies, including two young boys, in an Oklahoma home in an apparent murder-suicide.
Such news is frequent and its horrific implications are rocking the country. Many are questioning whether these deaths are caused by the mental state of the American people or by a failure of government policy.
Either way, it is hard to explain why, for example, a 13-year-old boy shot dead his 6-year-old brother and injured his 16-year-old brother before committing suicide in Florida.
Meanwhile, a US gunman in Fresno, California, fatally shot a woman and then committed suicide at a medical office.
Though analysts are trying to figure out exactly why these horror stories are occurring across the country, no official explanation has yet been offered.